TENNESSEE'S CUMBERLAND COUNTRY

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Cumberland farmers have been particularly fortunate to have two University of Tennessee experimental research stations in the county that work to reduce to a minimum the use of chemical fertilizers in this generally infertile soil in an effort to prevent water contamination. Researchers are also experimenting with new plowing methods to lessen topsoil loss; crossbreeding livestock that will better meet the needs of the market; running stress tests on piglets to prevent losses during transportation; and testing crop varieties that will thrive in this particular area. The agricultural interests of the county are further reflected in a large, energetic 4-H Club camp.

Industry and Employment

In recent years, a large textile manufacturer in the county closed down, creating economic hardship in an area that has had more than its share of such suffering throughout its history. There are, however, in addition to the sandstone and limestone producers mentioned earlier, 40 industries in the county, and the region is becoming increasingly attractive to companies worldwide. A number of these are unique. Hickory Specialties uses scraps from the hardwood industry to make liquid-smoke flavoring for meat. It was the first company Jack Daniels allowed to use its name. Now, Hickory's Jack Daniels Charcoal has increased in both popularity and price.

Crossville Ceramics, a European company that uses a secret process to manufacture a very hard tile for heavy traffic areas, such as airports, just opened a mufti-million-dollar plant, centrally located between the North Carolina rock and Tennessee clay used in its tile.

When Crossville resident Cosby Harrison crashed his light plane, it took him 90 days to find the parts needed to repair it, so he started Trade-A-Plane Magazine. This boomed into a number of other trade publications which now employ 65 people.

Other operations are small but notable. For example, for 30 years, some people have made a special trip to Crossville to pick up some rounds of justifiably famous low-moisture cheddar from Simonton's Cheese House. Though this very personable, family run operation carries many other types of cheese and gourmet items, 30,000 rounds of its own cheddar are sold each year through its retail outlet and by mail order.

The biggest moneymaker for the county, however, is tourism, and the biggest civilian employer is Fairfield Glade, the flagship of the vast Fairfield Communities resort/residential development company and Tennessee's only Mobil four-star resort. This 12,000-acre complex has a convention center, a shopping center, 11 lakes, two indoor and 10 outdoor tennis courts, horseback riding trails, indoor and outdoor pools, three restaurants and lounges, and three golf courses (one of which was named the best new resort course in the U.S. by Golf Digest) with another under construction. Similar communities surround Crossville. Lake Tansi Village to the south has one of Tennessee's largest manmade lakes (550 acres with 14 miles of shoreline); a smaller and newer resort, Boardwalk on the Lake, is to the west; and, to the east, there's Renegade, a 9,000-acre development on the top of Crab Orchard Mountain, which has recently been purchased by a West German group. This spring, it's changing its name to Cumberland Gardens, and-in addition to a ski area, a spectacular new golf course, and the other usual amenities-it plans to develop a compound of world-class show gardens.

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